Page 30 of Diary of a Mafia Princess

I had no idea what the hell was going on. But I rushed from the window to the door and peeked out. The hallway was empty, so I dared to go a little farther. Leaning over the top of the stairs, I watched Lynx disappear toward the back of the house.

I froze as the front door opened and Dax walked through it, like he had every right to be there.

His gaze smashed into mine.

The gap between the top of the stairs and the bottom of them disappeared in an instant.

I was pretty sure I flew down them.

I only managed to pull myself up at the very last second. I stopped an inch away from touching him, forcing my arms to stay at my sides, even though I wanted more than anything to throw them around him.

He smelled like safety. The scent of his skin, his deodorant, his shampoo all mingled around him, and I closed my eyes, inhaling the familiarness of it. The ache inside me from missing him so bad was like a gaping hole I couldn’t close without being in his arms.

But a little voice in my head whispered that this room could have security monitors. That every move I made was probably recorded. And that running down the stairs in my nightie to a man who wasn’t my fiancé was probably already raising alarm bells.

My entire body stiffened at the thought someone might realize there was something more between me and Dax.

And that they’d use that knowledge to hurt him.

“You can’t be here!” I hissed at him, forcing venom into my voice. Something that would hopefully scare him off, because if he gave away what we were to each other, all three of us, baby included, were dead.

He blinked at my tone, or maybe it was my expression. But when he spoke, it was in the soft, sweet way I’d always heard from him. “Nyah…”

I closed my eyes for the briefest of seconds, drowning in the sound of my name on his lips. I wobbled, my body desperately wanting to fall into his. And made my lips say words that would hurt him. “It’ll be Mrs. Guerra soon.”

He took half a step back. And that was good. Because it gave me air to breathe that didn’t smell like him.

He clutched his cake tin so tightly his knuckles turned white. “It’s true then? You’re seriously marrying Carlos Guerra?”

All I could do was nod while my head screamed no.

I needed him to go. To turn around and walk back out the door before my last ounce of control snapped and I fell into his arms.

But he didn’t walk out the door.

He knew me too well. “I don’t believe you.” He grabbed my hand and yanked it up. “Where’s your ring?”

“Sitting on a jewelry dish in my bathroom.” It was the truth. Carlos Guerra had forced a ring onto my finger the day my father had ordered me out of Saint View. The old man had been there in the back of my father’s car, the two of them leering at me like sharks with sharp teeth while they’d informed me of my fate.

Dax’s thumb rubbed over the smooth skin of my ring finger. “I was going to put a ring here.”

My heart clenched so hard I thought it was going to explode. I pulled my hand away. “You can’t say things like that. You can’t touch me.”

“Why can’t I?” he whispered. “I fucking love you.”

Tears welled behind my eyes. I wanted to tell him I loved him too. But this was just cruel. This was why I’d told him I couldn’t be with him. This was why I’d hurt us both, so this thing between us would sever.

It wasn’t working. I couldn’t help leaning into him. Lifting my gaze to his until my lips were barely more than an inch from his, and the need for him so great it was a physical agony not to be closer.

A sound came from the top of the stairs, and I jumped back, spinning around just as Luca appeared on the top landing.

He was still wearing the same gray sweatpants he’d worn last night. Only this time, he had tousled bed hair to go with them.

He looked sleepy and cute, and apparently the ab muscles hadn’t suddenly disappeared overnight. But when he realized there were people standing at the bottom of the stairs, the sleepy confusion disappeared. “What the fuck is going on here?”

I didn’t know what to say. The truth was absolutely out of the question. And my brain wouldn’t work fast enough for a lie.

Worse, I could feel Dax gearing up to grab my arm and pull me behind him, shielding me from Luca.